Inspiration : Ravenna

 Inspiration for designs in embroidery can come from all sorts of places: Books, museums, mosaics, old Christmas cards, nature, fabrics seen in foreign places, and my favourites - old buildings (to name but a few). In the old days (pre-internet), we didn't have an endless global resource literally at our fingertips. We went places and looked at old buildings, and sometimes we were inspired and took a photo of what we saw. (Which is why my garage has numerous heavy boxes filled with old photos and slides).

Of course, Sunday Church was routine for nearly all, and church decoration helped to keep children occupied whilst their parents went about their devotions. So it's not surprising that Churches still remain one of my favourite places to nosy round. Italy is, of course, filled with artistic treasures of all kinds: music, sculpture, buildings, painting, fashion, wine and food. Even most of the scenery almost seems to have been deliberately formed by some bucolic maestro! So, when a lifelong ambition to visit Ravenna was finally achieved in 2019, my only disappointment was that we only had a day visit. If I ever get to go again, I'll go for longer - a lot longer. So what is the attraction of Ravenna in particular? Some of the finest church mosaics anywhere are all collected together in one small town.

As we all are taught at school, mosaics are made up of tesserae - small pieces of square glass or stone. The details depends on the size of the work and the size of the stones. Smaller stones on a big work make for a very detailed image. You can tell the size of the tesserae by looking at the little flashes of gold in the bottom panel of the picture below - each flash represents one tiny piece of gold-backed glass. The detail on the two deer and the figures in the arch indicate the high number of tesserae used. And did those Byzantine folk know how to work their Art! 

And then there is Pattern, as evidenced on the photo below. First there is the gold and indigo vine scroll pattern on the outside of the arch. Then there is the complicated multicoloured Greek key work just inside the arch - FAB-U-LOUS! I still have to fathom out how it works. I wish I could have got closer to take more detailed pictures. And the Circles - Yes they are just circles of various patterns, but they are so effective. (It may all look very simple to you natural artists out there, but to one such as myself who was told not to bother with Art at the age of 15, it's the work of genius!) Even the simple feather-work at the bottom works brilliantly. Refined and effective.

And of course, I have left the ultimate demonstration of this art form - the figurative pieces till last. It is difficult to know where to start. Each face is subtly  different. The clothes do drape, the birds do chase each other. The colours blend harmoniously, the Angel's wings really do have feathers. I could go on, but it's of more use, if you just simply look and observe.

So where does all that lead to embroidery you may ask? Well, for those who have little to no artistic talent like me, we can copy, or we can take small bits and modify them to our own needs, or we can use the ideas as reference points to return to constantly as sources of inspiration and as examples of excellence to which we can strive (though in my case, probably never come close to achieving). 

In cross stitch we take tiny stitches to make up pictures, just as tiny bits of stone or glass make up mosaics. The principle is the same, The detail that we achieve in our cross-stitching depends on how small we are prepared to work our stitches, and the size of the canvas with which we choose to work.

Though few of us will ever come close to such artistry, we should at least try to do our own small personal best. 

I hope you enjoyed the photos! 

Spring is here!

 Oh Joy of Joys, Spring is here!

The Joy of Jonquils-  such happy flowers!

 I suffer from SAD (seasonal affective disorder), which means that short, dark, winter days just make me depressed. So when the sun starts shining and colour starts to appear in the garden, I feel a whole lot better. It probably explains why I like lots of colour in the garden, whilst my husband seems to be happy with ferns and suchlike (various shades of green). Not that I don't like green of course - it's the perfect foil for everything; I just like other colours too.

Camellias come in an array of lovely colours (white through yellows, pink, reds and deep clarets) and forms. Once established, they are reliable bloomers here in March and April

This means that I have to be careful when I am designing my embroideries. My first instinct is to go with those bright saturated colours which just zing on your retinas. Traditionally,of course, sampler colours are muted, of course. Or are they? When we look at most old samplers, their colours are muted today, but that may be the result of light fading the textiles and fibres (colour fastness to light can be tricky, especially in the red end of the spectrum - ask any artist!), and the accumulation of dust and dirt over time. If you look at what some very clever people do with natural dyes, then there is a whole rainbow of fabulous colours available, many of which would have been available hundreds of years ago. If you are interested in natural dyes Renaissance Dyeing have a fabulous website. As you can see from a quick look at the pictures, there is a great range of saturated colours, as well as more subtle shades. 

Hellebores - reliable bloomers with fascinating variations to keep everyone interested.

And of course a lot of those natural dyes would have plant origins back in the day (as they do today). The names of the dyes say it all: Madder, Indigo, Persian Berry, Weld, Logwood, Chestnut and Oak Gall, to name but a few. The Art and Science of using natural dyes has achieved wonders in the hands of modern day Artisans -  it is worth giving their wonderful products a try. 

Oh the glory of Cherry trees. The Japanese adore them for their beauty, reflecting the transience of life. And yes, white is a colour - all colours of the Rainbow in one single glorious colour. 

So maybe I will risk a few 'bright' colours in my Samplers. In a hundred years someone might be sighing over their lovely old muted colours - you never know!

Happy stitching! B